NPR

In India's Assam State, Residents Of River Islands Face Uncertainty Over Citizenship

Some 4 million people, many Muslim and impoverished, were excluded from a 2018 official register of citizens. Photographer CK Vijayakumar visited Assam to learn more about the challenges they face.
Muqbul Hussain, 58, is the leader of Kaltoli village, Nalbari district. He wants to sue border police for accusing him wrongly of being a "foreigner" but has been advised to wait until his name appears on the next national citizens list.

By 8 a.m., the sun hasn't pierced through dark clouds hanging over India's Brahmaputra River, but it's already warm and humid. People wait for a boat to take them to the Chandanpur char, an island in India's northeastern state of Assam, an hourlong ride from the mainland.

A char is a river island formed by silt carried downriver. Chars rise up and are submerged every few years. Every time a char erodes, the people living there dismantle their

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